Downey Games is proud to announce the release of The Baseball Card Game.

This game was designed primarily as an introductory game for younger players as a basis to get them excited about the world of tabletop sports board gaming. It’s not designed to be the final word in realism, as there are plenty of other game choices to fit that bill. The Baseball Card Game is meant to be a simple, fun to play game that doesn’t require much time to learn or to play for that matter!

The idea for this game was the result of several different conversations I had this past year with other gamers as well as with my own children and their friends.

In my talks with other experienced sports board gamers, often times the conversation would turn back to our youth, and how we got more enjoyment out of the simple games of our youth, maybe even more so than the ultra-realistic complicated games we have at our disposal today. When “we” were children getting into the hobby was as simple as going to the local toy store or local department store. There were plenty of sports board games available at that time to introduce us to the concept and at least for me, a life long passion. That isn’t the case these days. A handful of companies have made attempts at hitting this market, but have failed miserably either due to poor marketing and availability such as Cadaco’s revival of All-Star Baseball. Or the games themselves were far too expensive and played horribly. (SportsClix Baseball and MLB Showdown come to mind.)

This brings me to the conversations I’ve had with the kids.

My own children are quite used to Dad’s paper and dice sports gaming world. And they’ve tried and played several of the major baseball games that have been available through the years. And while they’ve enjoyed some of them, most of the time, the complaints range from, “this game takes too long” to “Can’t you make my Little League Team so I can play with them”. Now, in most cases I could and did create the Little League Team. But, it really got me to thinking about some of the things I enjoyed about sports games when I was 9, 10 or 11 years old.

When I was that age, I could take my baseball cards, and a couple of generic baseball games I bought at the local 5 and dime and play for hours. If I wanted to play a game using my friends, my little league team, or heck, even the pro wrestlers I watched on TV, I could do that! (Dick the Bruiser was an amazing pitcher in the warped world of my youth)

Creating a generic baseball game though isn’t enough today. As I mentioned above, two of the mainstream Collectible card type games that have recently hit the market have failed miserably as they haven’t had good game play mechanics, and they really bear no resemblance to reality. Today’s kids that are involved in youth sports are a bit more sophisticated in their knowledge of the sport. Even the 9-year old kids I coach in baseball know when to sacrifice bunt, or know the concept of hit-and-run. So the challenge for me was to create a simple playing game, in which kids could rate their own players, but also bear resemblance to the actual game of baseball.

I think I have succeeded on all counts. In The Baseball Card Game, free-swinging power hitters, high-average no power hitters and everyone else in between are all “accurately” represented. I’ve also created a simple interface in which the pitcher on the mound makes a big difference. Control pitchers, Strike Out artists, and the mop-up man are also “accurately” represented in this game. Factors like Sacrifice Bunting, Hit and Run, Stealing Bases, and a player’s defensive ability are also factored into the game. This is MUCH more than just a simple little game. While the accuracy may not be to the 1000th of a degree, the game is strongly based upon reality and will provide you with a very accurate snapshot of each and every player.

Most importantly though, I’ve kept the rating system simple enough that any 8-year-old , should have no problem playing with any player they can dream up. I’ve kept the game based upon reality. But, it’s also scaleable to any level of play. You can play Professionals, Minor Leaguers, College, High-School or even Youth League games within the framework of this game.

And while I’ve stated the design intent was primarily for kids, The Baseball Card Game is also fun, and realistic enough for even the veteran sports board gamers. The Baseball Card Game is a great companion for business trips, plane rides or just unwinding at home.

** A portion of all proceeds go directly to the Pike County Youth Sports program **

As with all of the offerings from Downey Games, you can purchase the game in printed or E-Book format.

I was asked on another forum about the mechaics of the game, and thought I'd post my response here as well.
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As in real baseball, the at-bat is initiated by the pitcher. Pitchers are rated for overall ability (number of baserunners, runs allowed, etc), control and defense. The game is played with one or two decks of standard playing cards. You draw a card for the "pitch" and use a pitching chart which will result in either an out,a hit, a check of the team's defense, the pitcher's control, or the pitcher has made a pitch in which the batter's ability comes into play.

After the initial pitch, if you don't get an automatic hit or out, you are directed to another chart, (defense, control, Batter, etc)

The batter's are rated for overall ability to reach base, their "eye" (Ability to draw walks and tendency to strike out), power, speed, and defensive ability.

When typed out, this could look like it takes a bit to play. But, honestly, the game flys in terms of playing time. And the necessities of a good baseball game are factored in. (Pitcher-batter interface, defensive ability, baserunning).

I just want to say that this is a fun little diversion. I dusted off some of my old baseball cards, came up with some quick conversions for them and played a game. It was a total pitcher's duel with the home team winning 2-0 thanks to a two run homer in the bottom of the ninth! The game only took about 20-30 minutes to play. I forgot to time it exactly.

Markus V

rickert

Post subject: POSTING MY FIRST TEAM Posted: Dec 22, 2006 - 04:19 PM

Joined: Apr 19, 2005
Posts: 1494
Location: Indiana
Status: Offline

I am sending in today the 1963 Los Angeles Dodgers and the 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers player ratings for this game. Those are the only two teams I've done so far. I will be doing more for me and will post them if there's interest. I'm assuming that Jeff isn't planning on selling any from the tone of his posts so I figure he won't mind if I post these.